Illuminated sign.



L. H. MOISE.

ILLUMINATED SIGN. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 1910.

EEEL wvvavvrofr LIONEL Iv E FTTORNEXS Patented Dec.24,1912.

LIONEL H. MOISE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

ILLUMINATED sren.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 24, 1912.

' Application'filed June 27, 1910. Serial No. 569,018.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LIONEL H. MOISE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Illuminated Signs, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements made in illuminated signs of the kind or description in which each letter or symbol is illuminated and rendered legible at night by means of incandescent. electric lamps, the letters being so formed as to serve all the purposes of a legible day sign. In a sign of this type, the lamps are employed solely as illuminating elements and they do not enter into the formation of the letter as they do in other types of electrically illuminated signs, in which the lamps are arranged sometimes in open formation to produce the letter in outline, and sometimes in closer arrangement, forming a filled or solid letter.

The invention has as its object to provide a letter of an ornamental and artistic appearance, as well as a high degree of legibility both by 7 day and by night, when illuminated or when not illuminated, and to obtain the desired elfects with a mini-mum number of electric lamps.

- Another object of the invention is to provide a letter which by day has the appearance of a raised or block letter and which when illuminated at night has the appearance of a plain or flat letter.

The device possesses other advantageous features, which with the foregoing Will be set forth at length in the following description, where I shall outline in full that form or embodiment of the invention which I have selected for illustration.

The novelty of-the invention Will be includedin the claim succeeding the descrip- 7 tion.

From this it wi-ll be apparent that I do not restrict myself to the showing made by the drawings and description, as I -may adopt many variations within the scope of my invention as expressed in said claim.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown the application of my invention to the production of the capital letter R, from the description of which a person familiar with the COIlStIlICl ion of illuminated signs will be able-to apply the in vention to the production of any other letter or character; that may enter into the formation of a sign embodying the invention without further or special illustration of different letters or characters.

Figure -1 of the drawing represents the capital letter R, constructed according to this invention; the same showing a portion of the panel or back-ground upon which the letter .may be mounted. Fig. 2 is a crosssection on the line w-m, Fig.1.

A sign of the type to which these improvements relate is distinguished by having the shading or that portion which produces the block or raised efl ect, so placed that when the sign is illuminated by electric lights at night that portion will not be visible and the letter will have the appearance of a plain or fiat letter, but in the daylight that portion will be visible and the letter will have the appearance of a block letter regardless of the angle at which it is viewed.

The letteris of the class known as the trough or channel letter, and is provided with shading elements along one side and bottom of the elements of the letter, lying at an angle to the face of the letter or to the panel and painted in -contrasting colors to the face of the letter and the face ofthe panel. The elements of the letter R shown in the accom anying drawings consist of the vertical e ement forming the shank of the letter, the horizontal and curved ,elements forming the upper part of the body of the letter and the slant-ing or diagonal element completing the letter. The arrangement of the elements vary in all letters, the letter I consisting of one vertical element and the letter 0 consisting vof one circular element or two vertical elements joined by two semi-circular elements. The face of the letter is preferably painted with white or some other color of high refiectingqualit-y, and the shading preferably of red, and the panel or back ground of some high light absorbing color, such as black or dark green.

The body of the letter of my invention is produced on the face of the panel 2 in the shape of a channel letter inclosed on all sides by the standing rims 3. On the surface and in the channel of the letter the sockets 4 provided for the lamp bulbs 5 are arranged in open order and are wired or connected in the usual manner at the back of the panel. The details of these connections are not represented in the drawings and are not described, for the reason that the manner of Wiring the sign to connect all the electric lamp bulbs of each letter and of all the group's composing the sign does not differ rom other signs of the same type, and can be carried out by those familiar with the manufacture of electrically illuminated signs Without special explanation.

For the purpose of giving the letter the appearance of a block letter by day, when viewed from directly in front, 1 have arranged inclined shade elements 6 to one side and below the elements of the letter. These shade elements spring away from, or are inclined downward and outward from the forward edge of the channel, and the outer I Fedge 70f the shade element is generally parallel to that side of the letter from which it springs.

elements be arranged with reference to the It is not necessary that the shade elements of the letter as shown in the drawings, since they may be placed on the other side of the elements of the letter without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The outer edge 7 of the shade element 6 preferably terminates above or in front of the panel 2, thereby eliminating a dust, dirt and snow pocket behind the shade element,

makin the letter practically self-cleaning. This construction also greatly enhances the block efiect of the letter by giving it the appearance of being entirely spaced apart from the supporting panel. The electric lamps being arranged entirely within the channel it IS evident that the light therefrom cannot fall on the shade elements 6, so that at night, when the sign is illuminated by the electric lamps, a flat or plain letter is produced.

It is to be understood, that I do not limit myself to the style of letter shown, as other styles of letters, characters, or symbols, for illuminated signs may be formed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

In an illuminated sign, a channel letter, shade elements arranged external to the channel along one side and below the elements of the letter, the shade elements springin away from the front edge of the letter an being inclined outward and backa ward from the front edge of the channel and extending to a plane in front of and in close relation to the base of the letter, the plane of the back edgesof the shade elements being spaced apart from the lane of said base LION *L H. MOISE. Witnesses:

S. PELS, 'E. A. PYLE. 

